PI: Francis Wessling, University of Alabama, Huntsville

The UAHuntsville ChargerSat program is a student satellite development program to design, build, test, and operate orbital Pico/Nano-satellites. The project is conceived and run under the Space Hardware Club, an all-volunteer, all-student aerospace system design group and student organization of the University of Alabama in Huntsville. The UAHuntsville ChargerSat program is currently working on its second CubeSat mission, ChargerSat-2. ChargerSat-2 has a primary focus of investigating the heat transfer properties of nucleate boiling in microgravity. This will involve two 1.5U CubeSat satellites (10x10x15cm), each containing two boiling instruments. To support this mission, two primary technologies will need to be tested to ensure a successful orbital mission. The technologies that need to be tested are: 1) the deployment mechanisms for a drag device designed to increase deceleration forces and 2) the microgravity boiling instrument verification and characterization.